Editorial: McCain is fishing for votes with his gas 'tax holiday'

Here's one for the voodoo economics scrapbook: John McCain's proposal to eliminate the federal gasoline tax for the summer.

The Republican presidential candidate last week suggested a "tax holiday" for the 18 cents-a-gallon surchargebetween Memorial Day and Labor Day, saying it would take a few dollars off the price of a fill-up and provide an economic stimulus. Could there be a more blatant ploy to get votes? Or a more stupid one?

Yes, gas is approaching $4 a gallon. Yes, that's expensive. But do we really want people buying more? Gas usage is down year over year, and that's a good thing. Driving less or, more commonly, driving fuel-efficient cars means lower greenhouse gas emissions and improved national security, since we're less dependent on foreign oil.

Worse still, the tax holiday would sap as much as $10 billion away from the Highway Trust Fund, which pays for building and maintaining roads and transit. The fund already can't come close to meeting the transportation needs identified by states and communities. The tax hasn't been raised in 15 years.

Once realistic about taxes and prudent about the environment, McCain is jettisoning his principles at every turn - and this is when he's rising in the polls. Just think what he'd do if he were desperate.